HLTA02H3 Lecture : The Conceptualization of Health - an article by Larson
Document Summary
Health is not a clear concept as we approach it. Health related thinking in u. s - the old paradigm emphasized disease, while the new one emphasizes health, functioning and well-being. Health maybe defined as absence of illness, longevity (quantitative), absence of infirmities. Way to organize divergent views of health: health is conceptualized in formal models. Of descartes and exist in practice of medicine today. Wood (1986) observes that the medical model distinguishes between disease, illness, and health. Kroeger (1988) presents the basic terminology in simpler terms, defining illness as what people perceive and disease as what medical professionals define as a noslogical entity. Critics of the medical model point to its limitations: Difficulty of adapting it to emotional and psychiatric disorders. Social health of the individual is that dimension of an individual s well-being that concerns how he gets along with other people, how other people react to him, and how he interacts with social institutions and societal mores.
